John Evelyn (Born 1620) was born into a Surrey landowning family that was dealing in gunpowder manufacture. He came of age just at the beginning of the Civil War. To escape the disturbances caused by the war, he embarked on a formative and prolonged period of travel in France and Italy, finally coming to settle in Paris in 1647. This is where he married the daughter of Sir Richard Browne, the English Resident whose residence housed the exiled royalist community. This period he was abroad stimulated his extensive intellectual interests. Evelyn embarked on a thorough program of study. He was raised in Lewes, Sussex and while living in Southover Grange, in Lewes, he studied at Lewes Old Grammar School. He was also educated at the Middle Temple and at Balliol College, Oxford.
He joined the Royalist army, though briefly, and in 1642, arrived for the Royalist victory at the Battle of Brentford. He decided to go abroad because he did not want to be involved in the English Civil War any longer. In late 1644, he visited the Roman ruins in Provence, before he traveled on to Italy where he attended lectures in anatomy in Padua. His work has been brought into countless homes, businesses, and exhibited widely. Evelyn feels grateful to live in a beautiful area that’s so rich in subject matter for his artwork, and in such a special community of great people. His art still continues to cause a lot of excitement, especially among art teachers and art students.
